My First Real Tree!

Squeeee!  Ever since I've had Rowan, I've gotten extra excited about the holidays.  Having a little one just adds a whole new dimension to the fun.  

One of the traditions that my family always did every year was to go to a little local Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree.  I really wanted to continue that tradition this year.  This is the first year that we're actually staying home for Christmas and now that Rowan is 2 1/2, I figured it would be a good time to start.

Sadly, the really nice trees aren't native to Southern California, so even though we went to a Christmas tree farm where you can cut your own tree, we decided to go with a pre-cut.  Here's what the native trees look like:

Pretty, but not ideal for hanging ornaments on.

Here's the one that we picked out:

It really didn't look that big.  Until we got it inside.  It just barely fit!

More importantly, though, (or at least the point of this blog) was how I decorated it.  I started my making a tree skirt.  Good ol' Pinterest to the rescue!  I found this awesome idea, bought a bunch of felt,  and then packed it all up with me when I went to visit the family in Kansas back in October.  I'm in LOVE with how it turned out!

I think after this year I might add some bling to it.  Maybe some sequins or some gems….

The other thing I made was a garland from hemp twine and matching felt circles.  I cut the circles out with my Cricut to save on time.  Then, since you have to have Heat 'n Bond on the felt in order to cut it with the Cricut, I just ironed two circles together with the twine in-between.  

The garland is a little hard to see here, and of course my camera seemed to have eaten the picture I took of just the garland, but you can still see it peaking through in places.  Same as the skirt, I think I want to bling it out a little bit for next year to make it pop more.  I was originally thinking sequins, but there are sooooo many circles.  It would take me clear until next Christmas to finish it!  I'm making maybe a big sparkly gem in the middle of each one.  

I also have a Barbie tree I put up every year.  Once it's all finished I'll take some pics and make another post!